Debt-laden Jet Airways India Ltd. is trying to renegotiate contracts with its vendors as lenders demand a revival plan by month-end from India’s second-largest airline by passengers, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, Bloomberg News reported. The Naresh Goyal-led airline is in talks to defer or reduce payments to vendors including aircraft lessors and those providing engineering, spare parts, credit card and airport services, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions aren’t public.

India’s debt-laden Jet Airways is close to reaching a deal with State Bank of India for a fresh loan of 15 billion rupees ($215 million) to meet its working capital needs, two sources aware of the matter told Reuters. The airline has scheduled a meeting on Jan. 8 with its vendors and lessors, many of whom are getting increasingly concerned over non-payment of dues, and officials from State Bank of India (SBI) to discuss the debt restructuring plan, the first source with direct knowledge said, Reuters reported.

Swedish group Ericsson has asked India’s top court to send tycoon Anil Ambani to prison, after his troubled Reliance Communications allegedly breached a court order to pay $79m in unpaid dues, the Financial Times reported. RCom, once India’s most valuable telecom company, has been fighting to stave off bankruptcy for more than a year, after suffering a heavy loss of market share. Ericsson had originally claimed Rs11bn ($158m) in unpaid fees for outsourced management services, and launched insolvency proceedings against RCom last year.

Vijay Mallya, the Indian tycoon fighting multiple cases in the U.K. after defaulting on bank loans, was declared a "fugitive economic offender" by a special Mumbai court under a new law, television channels reported. Mallya is the first to be declared a fugitive under the new law, which gives authorities greater powers to seize and confiscate assets of economic offenders, according to CNN-News18 and India Today TV, Bloomberg News reported. The ruling comes on the back of Mallya losing a bid last month to avoid extradition to India from the U.K., where he is currently based.

India needs to resume subsidies on imported natural gas to help revive power plants that have been stranded for want of fuel and could turn into bad assets for banks, according to a lawmakers’ report, Bloomberg News reported. The federal government should supply the gas at lower than market rates by utilizing funds from the so-called Power System Development Fund or from the environment tax on coal, the Standing Committee on Energy said in its report on Friday. Imported gas for the plants was subsidized for two years through March 2017.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Thursday asked the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal to expeditiously decide on the Essar Steel insolvency case, where ArcelorMittal emerged as the highest bidder, BloombergQuint reported. Essar Steel lenders led by the State Bank of India had filed an application with the tribunal seeking early approval of the resolution plan. The case has been running for about 500 days as against a maximum of 270 days allowed for a resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

All Jet Airways India Ltd. ever needed was 1 rupee, or just 1.4 U.S. cents, for providing hot meals and cold towels. Since even that modest goal has proven elusive, India’s longest-surviving private airline now needs bankers with spine to keep flying. It’s been clear for some time that Jet, falling behind even on pilots’ wages, was going to skip a debt payment soon. Now that a default on bank loans has finally happened, let’s spend a minute on the brutal economics of the missing rupee, a Bloomberg View reported.

Jet Airways India Ltd. has missed a payment to Indian lenders in the latest sign of mounting strains at the country’s second largest airline by passengers, after losses worsened a cash crunch, Bloomberg News reported. The setback underscores a lack of progress lining up sufficient funds for debt payments after the beleaguered carrier approached banks for a moratorium on loans and asked for fresh funds in October. Shares in Jet Airways closed down 6.1 percent, the sharpest decline in more than three weeks.

A new year, a new central bank governor. Yet the first salvo to come out of the Reserve Bank of India’s policy arsenal in 2019 is encouragement of good old “extend and pretend” lending, a Bloomberg View reported. Banks and shadow banks are being allowed a one-time restructuring of loans of up to 250 million rupees ($3.6 million) to micro, small and medium enterprises that were in default on Jan. 1, without having to mark them as nonperforming, the RBI said on Tuesday. Lenders are being given an extension of 15 months (up to March 31, 2020) to pretend that these stressed loans are standard.

India’s central bank will permit lenders to restructure stressed loans to small companies, breaking from a five-year-old policy of eschewing sweeping corporate debt overhauls, Bloomberg News reported. The Reserve Bank of India will allow one-time restructuring of loans to micro, small and medium-sized companies that are in default, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday. To be eligible for the program, the loan should not exceed 250 million rupees ($3.6 million), according to the statement.